Fact Sheet

March 2009

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7 will begin a Removal Site Evaluation (RSE) at the Standard Precision site at 4105 W. Pawnee in Wichita, Kansas. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) completed a Preliminary Assessment, Site Inspection, and Expanded Site Inspection. A Unified Focused Assessment (UFA) was conducted at the site, and KDHE requested EPA to perform the RSE.

EPA PLANNED ACTIVITIES

EPA will collect soil samples for lab analysis, survey the property, screen the entire property, screen the buildings on site, and review the lab data to determine if any removal actions are warranted.

The RSE is to begin in late March 2009. Sampling will be conducted on soil at the site to determine if the site poses a threat to human health and the environment, and to propose recommendations for further action, if necessary. Sampling will last about a week.

BACKGROUND

Radioluminescent paint and radium luminous compounds have been used extensively on watch and clock faces since the early 1900s. The wide use of radium in luminescent paints continued through World War II because the soft glow of radium-produced luminescence made aircraft dials, gauges, and other instruments visible to operators at night.

The Standard Precision site was located at the above address in Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas. The site was the location of an aircraft instrument repair shop in the 1960s and 1970s. Instruments included some radium dials and faces. National Cash Register acquired Standard Precision in 1968.

THE CONTAMINATION

Radium dial repair shops were set up in the Wichita area soon after World War II to upgrade and repair radium-bearing aircraft instruments. During this repair process, the dials containing radium-bearing paint were removed, the radium bearing paint stripped from the dials with solvent, and the dials repainted. These teardown and dial-stripping operations are potential sources for solvents, heavy metal, and radium contamination of buildings, soil, and ground water.

During KDHE's UFA, radium-226 was detected at levels above the EPA/NRC screening level. Elevated levels of lead, chromium, and cadmium were also identified in soils above the Risk-based Standards for Kansas (RSK) values. Multiple volatile organic compounds were identified in subsurface soils and ground water above RSK levels. The property investigation included locations adjacent to and especially southeast of the SPI facility.